The Meaning of Forever
by PaperKat
Summary: Story Synopsis: Just because the war is over doesn’t mean the story ends. 'Author's Notes' Chapter Synopsis: Just a note, some 'thank you's and maybe something extra. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.
1. A Secret Calling

The Meaning of Forever

A Secret Calling

Chapter 1/?

By Paperkat

01/26/08

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

This story is an attempt to break the writer's block I'm having with my Transformers fic. Hopefully it will work.

Story Synopsis

Just because the war is over doesn't mean the story ends. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.

Chapter Synopsis

Katara gets called to court.

&

Katara looked out over the wide expanse of the Southern Ocean before her. The water was calm and flat with only the occasional sealcat to break its peaceful surface. It was summer now, and the weather was mild enough for the earth to poke through and the planting to begin. It was the only time of the year Toph would visit them in the South Pole, as the rest of the year was 'just muddled mush' to her senses.

The Master Waterbender smiled thinking of her friend, her sister in everything but blood. It had been two years since Toph had come to visit and a year since Katara had visited the Earth Kingdom, but well trained ribbon hawks carried messages between them often enough that the time spent apart from her Earthbending sister didn't seem that grievously long.

It had been more difficult at first, after the war had ended, for their misfit family to be separated to the four corners of the world. Though they had spent less than a year together in each other's constant company it had felt more like a lifetime. All of the life lessons that Katara held near to her heart had been learned during that time, with that family, and even though it had been six years since the fall of Fire Lord Ozai, Katara's heart still ached with longing for that family.

"Master Katara! Master Katara!" Katara turned in time to catch Juri as he came tumbling up the slope towards her. Before she could ask any questions the small boy caught his breath and continued. "Master Katara, there's trouble in the village!"

The child's eyes were so earnestly frightened that Katara didn't ask any questions. "Hold on to me," she commanded softly while pressing Juri to her back supporting leg. With only a slight swinging motion of her arms, hands shaped like claws at her hips, Katara gathered the moister in the soggy summer soil and formed an ice sled beneath their feet. With a thought and a push Katara rocketed them down the slope towards the village, her arms alternating back and forth generating motion and momentum. Though the village didn't seem to be any worse for wear than she had left it this morning, Katara didn't immediately take that as a good sign. Their village had grown quite a bit since the war and there should have been people milling about completing their chores, but she saw none.

With Juri clutching her leg with all his small might, Katara used her balance and grace to weave her way through the buildings towards the village center, spewing mud and moisture in every direction in her haste. Before they cleared the War Lodge, Katara could hear her brother screeching in his high, almost feminine wail that let her know that the only thing in the village in danger at the moment was Sokka's dignity.

"Get off of me, you flying fire menace!"

When Katara finally came to a stop just outside the village center she was greeted with the sight of her brother frantically waving his boomerang over his head at the bird of prey perched there. The messenger hawk seemed quite unaffected as it lazily ducked under each of Sokka's wild swings. Katara's pounding heart slowed to a more normal pace, only slightly annoyed that her brother had caused her unintentional panic.

"Sokka, stop antagonizing the poor thing," Katara chastised after she thanked Juriand sent him on to his mother who was watching the village War Hero wail and stomp his feet in a very un-warrior-like fashion. The rest of the village was here also with ill conceal snickers of pure amusement. Katara shooed them away and back to their chores as she would children. In fact most of them were children. With the war over and families reunited, the Southern Pole's population had more than tripled in the last six years.

"Me!" Sokka demanded hotly, momentarily forgetting about the bird on his shoulder to glare at his sister. "All I was trying to do was to take the stupid bird's, stupid message!"

"I tried to stop him," Suki sighed, her day old son that Katara had delivered herself, swaddled and sleeping in her arms.

"Suki!" Sokka yelled in genuine panic. "Why are you outside?! Why are you walking?! Why are you outside and walking with my son! And will _someone_ get this bird off of me!"

Katara shared a look with her sister-in-law, one that they had shared many times before in these four years. _He's your bother_, Suki's eyes told her, and Katara's would laugh back, _Yeah, but you married him_. The Kyoshi warrior sighed in defeat and retreated towards the lodge she shared with her husband. Katara pitied her only in that she knew first hand how Sokka's loving care could be downright smothering if not tempered with distraction.

"Sokka stand still," Katara commanded softly as she approached the stand meant for the massager hawk. Although glowering, her brother stood perfectly still even as the raptor briefly dug its talons in deeper before launching itself into the air. With two great beats of its wings the hawk covered the distance and gracefully alighted on the ornately carved perch.

"Man," Sokka pouted, as he repeatedly patted his head, neck and shoulders looking for evidence of blood. "I hate it when these things come to visit."

Katara only smiled indulgently as she cautiously approached the hawk. Though she didn't have her brother's awful tract record with the winged massagers, she knew better than to assume that a trained hawk was a completely tame one. Katara offered the bird some dried seal meat as she would one of Toph's red ribbon hawks, but the fire nation raptor shunned the offering before impatiently turning on the perch and presenting the scroll compartment on its back.

"Even their birds think they're too good for us," Sokka grumbled half-heartedly when he joined his sister's side.

"It's probably trained not to accept food from anyone except its master, Sokka, to keep it from being tempted out of its cargo." Katara reasoned as she carefully released the compartment's bindings and pulled it from the hawk.

"Whatever," Sokka scoffed. "Hey, didn't you tell Suki to lie down for the next couple of days? I mean she did just give life to my son, shouldn't that mean that she should, I don't know, maybe stop moving or something?"

"Hn... what?" Katara was forced to ask, as her attention had been completely adsorbed by the brief message contained on the parchment.

"Is something wrong?" Sokka asked, all of his earlier buffoonery had completely melted away and was replaced by not only a concerned brother, but also a trained warrior.

"Oh, nothing," Katara responded lightly, hoping that Sokka would just leave it at that, but her brother knew her too well. He stood their waiting, his blue eyes drilling into her.

"No really, it's just that…" Katara's thoughts trailed away as she struggled to come up with a believable story. "I'm concerned about Iroh," she blurted out so unexpectedly that her eyes widened to match her brothers with surprise.

"Why?" Sokka asked, his wariness turning to concern, and Katara winced with guilt. "Does it say that he's ill?"

"No, it's more about what it doesn't say," Katara told him truthfully, as the single line of text was cryptic at best if not very direct. When Sokka crossed his arms, Katara knew that she wasn't going to get out of this without an explanation.

"Well, you know how Iroh is," she began, turning away and hanging her head slightly to hide her half-truths behind her hair. "When he writes it's like a mini novel, right down to what's pissed Zuko off lately. This just isn't like him," she said as she waving the small single leaf of parchment too quickly for her brother to catch the seal under the short note. Iroh would have never sent a personal message signed with an official family seal.

"Well, being Fire Lord has got to be keeping him busy," Sokka told her softly, placing his hands on her shoulders. His easy comfort only made Katara cringe further. "And with negotiations between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom still so unstable, he probably just didn't have time to write anymore."

"Maybe," Katara said softly, silently cursing her brother for his timely and unwelcome logic.

"Go visit him."

Katara whorled around in shock. "What?"

"Go visit Iroh," he continued with a shrug. "The baby's here, so you don't have to worry about that anymore. It's planting season, and you hate planting season, and besides if you don't go you'll just worry about it until you make me crazy and I send you away. So just go."

"When did you get to be so wise?" Katara asked her brother, giving him a hug.

"Oh, about 30 seconds after I found out I was going to be a dad."

"After you passed out you mean."

"Yeah, after that."

Four days later found Katara sailing to Kyoshi Island where she planed to book passage on a Fire Nation trading vessel headed back home. She would have left sooner, but Gran Gran had insisted that she stay for the Sun Ceremony and at least the first day of the Planting Festival afterwards. As the only water bender and consequently the only water bending Master in the South Pole it was expected of her to perform certain ceremonial duties, even though most of them had to be modified to accommodate the fact that she was a girl. She simply wasn't going to greet the summer sun bare-chested with a seal kill at her feet.

Though the note that had prompted this trip had no deadline or timetable Katara felt a certain amount of urgency. Katara pulled the parchment from her sleeve and read it again just to be certain she hadn't missed anything.

_I think it is time you visited._

There wasn't a true signature, just a seal, but it was unmistakable; a firebird pressed into expensive ebony wax with a dusting of real gold over the figure of the phoenix. Katara sighed, tucking the note away and hoped she wasn't about to make a great fool of herself for something that could possibly be nothing at all. But what could she do? It wasn't wise to cross a Princess of Fire, especially when that same woman held a debt that had yet to be repaid.

What could Mai possibly want with her?

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I respond best to constructive critique and cookies, not flames.


	2. Knowing When To Worry

1The Meaning of Forever

Knowing When to Worry

Chapter 2/?

By Paperkat

01/29/08

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Story Synopsis

Just because the war is over doesn't mean the story ends. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.

Chapter Synopsis

Zuko knows exactly when to be worried.

Zuko divided his focus between Kuzu's droning voice and the third flame to the left of the receiving room's curtained double doors. He kept the fire constant, not allowing it to flare or dim as he shifted it through the colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, lavender, over and over again. He and the Avatar had used it as a form of mediation and conditioning during their training together. Thought it wasn't particularly visually impressive, it took an insane amount of concentration and skill, and right now it was the only thing that kept him sane during the monotony that was court life.

"And in the Tento District…"

The court attendant continued on, seemingly without having to take a breath, for which the Prince was at least partially grateful. The sooner the official announcement of the schedule was over the sooner the day could actually begin. Zuko already knew that was on the agenda for the day because, as the Fire Lord's First Advisor, it was his duty to arrange the day's duties by order of importance.

"And with great apologies my Lord there is a guest that bids an audience with you."

The unexpected change in the routine snapped Zuko out of his calming trance. From his position just to the side of the traditional wall of flames that separated the Fire Lord from the court officials, Zuko could see that his Uncle had slid down a little in his throne with his chin resting upon his chest. _At least he isn't snoring_.

Knowing that his Uncle had not heard the court attendant in his slumber, Zuko took a loud step forward and forced the flame curtain to surge upward. There was a sleep muffled grunt of surprised protest from behind the curtain as Zuko addressed the attendant himself.

"And who would be so bold as to request an audience without giving formal announcement?" Zuko asked forcing more displeasure into his voice than was really there. While annoyed that the schedule was in jeopardy (_Agni, help him, he was starting to sound like Sokka?!_) the Prince was glad for a slight distraction.

The attendant seemed to shrink where he stood and Zuko inwardly cringed realizing that maybe he had gone a little too far. Though he was heir to the throne by both lineage and by his Uncle's own decree, Zuko still felt that he had to earn that place. _And scaring the pants off my subjects isn't helping_, Zuko grumbled to himself. He was about to correct his mistake when a small voice from behind the guards standing at the receiving room door spoke up.

"Excuse me… I didn't mean to cause a fuss, I just wanted to… uh… let you know I was in town?"

The shadows, the midnight blue robes and her petite frame had helped to keep her from sight, but now that she was standing in the middle of the room with nothing to shield her from the hundreds of flames lighting the room, Zuko wondered how he could have missed her at all.

The color of her robes indicated her status as a Master of her element among her people but was uncommon in the Fire Nation and stood out strikingly, but the robe's design itself was very common in the township surrounding the palace. They were made to be light and airy to account for the heat his nation was known for, and left her arms and midriff exposed. Her hair was pulled back in braids that disappeared into a bun at the back of her head and Zuko immediately thought of Toph, whom she must have used as a reference for the blending of Earth and Water hairstyles. At her throat was, of course, her mother's necklace, but in her hair was a set of four gold and ivory hair sticks, carved and forged to resemble summer fire blossoms and on each arm were twining gold dragon armbands enabled in azure. His Uncle had gifted Katara with the royal gifts upon the formal announcement of her status of Master and they did a lot to make her look less… peasant-like. Of course it would have work a lot better if she didn't have a worn overstuffed seal leather pack the size of a bagger mole strapped to her back.

It had been three years since he had seen her last. His wedding had afforded him very little opportunity to actually spend time with his many guests, but he had watched her from atop his elevated seat of honor. His Uncle, the Fire Lord, had commanded a dance in honor of his nephew's marriage, and for a moment no one had moved. Dancing had not been allowed for so long none of the Fire Nation guests knew what to do, but the Avatar had.

Zuko didn't know how it had been possible, but at sixteen Aang had been even more boisterous than he had been at twelve and he had no trouble talking a reluctant Katara out into the center of the room. His Uncle's musicians had immediately followed the Fire Lord's command for a lively tune and the two dancers had fallen into step as if it had been something they had done all their lives. But that was the way it always was between them. Zuko was never sure who led and who followed, but they always stayed in step.

By that time Aang had finally gained some height and was a half head taller than his dance partner, however Katara hadn't looked like she had changed at all since the moment Zuko had first seen her in the South Pole. But Zuko had always felt so much older than the 'children' he had chased across the world. And even when they stood by him in the final battle, Zuko had a hard time seeing past their young, unblemished faces to the maturity they had gained that was beyond their years, and most likely beyond his own level of maturity at the time.

Zuko was stuck again at how little time seemed to affect Katara. She was certainly no taller, but Zuko had to admit that she seemed leaner almost slight and she moved with a lithe grace that had been just starting to show itself three years ago when she danced all night with the Avatar. But her emotions still showed brightly from her eyes, like a book open for anyone to read. And that alone made Katara seem so much younger than she actually was. _How old was she?_ Zuko wondered suddenly, but he pushed that thought to the side, focusing on the girl… woman before him.

Katara's eyes flitted nervously around the room, first along the wall of flame that hid his Uncle from view and then to him. Her gaze locked with his, her blue eyes looked silver in the firelight. It took a moment for her to recognize him in his full court regalia and backlit by the still roaring fire, but when she did she relaxed. With a small smile of relief she gave a graceful bow, despite the bulbous pack tied to her back.

"Prince Zuko," she acknowledged with a final lowering of her head, eyes downcast.

It still surprised him how formal she was with him. After all, this was the same girl that had stood just inches from his face and threatened his very life should he ever cross her. This was the same girl that had refused to call him by anything resembling his name for nearly a month after he had joined the Avatar. Aang said that Katara was just giving him the respect she felt he had earned. Zuko would have rather she call him just Zuko or even Hotman like Toph, but he supposed it was better than her calling him Jerkbender like her brother still did on occasion.

It had happened so fast in the end, her forgiveness, and her acceptance that Zuko still had a hard time thinking of Katara as a friend and not some form of rival. It had maybe been two weeks since he had started teaching the Avatar when it happened. Tension in the group had been high. Whether it had been from his unexpected arrival or from the core group of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph restlessness of staying in one spot too long, being hunted tending to do that, Zuko hadn't known, but one morning the little group had finally snapped.

He and Aang had just returned from a rather successful training session to find Sokka, Haru, the Duke and Teo cowering in one corner of the courtyard that had served as their common room. Zuko had known immediately that something was wrong, the air had been too heavy with silence, but the Avatar had been blissfully unaware and had inquired about breakfast. It had been the wrong thing to say.

If it was possible, Toph had become even more stiff and unyielding seemingly turning to stone as she continued to look blankly away from their direction. Katara had immediately descended on the Avatar, like a great fox-eagle with talons extended. The boy had tried to cringe away, most likely knowing what he was in store for him, but the waterbender would not be denied her prey. With a hand on Aang's shoulder, she had steered the poor boy in front of her and towards the make shift eating area they had made, and then she had turned her burning blue eyes on him.

She had been glaring, but for the first time it had not been because of, or for, him. She had given him a quick once over, before setting her jaw so tightly he thought her teeth would crack and then she grabbed his wrist. Too shocked to protest or even put up resistance, Zuko had been dragged behind the waterbender, while she had pushed the Avatar in front of her.

The very first thing that Zuko remembered thinking was how strong her grip was. Not truly accustomed to being handled, Zuko had almost every touch he had received since his mother's banishment memorized. Some like from his Uncle or Mai, had been hesitant, light, loving, even affectionate. Some like his father, Azula and even Toph, had been controlling, forceful, and demanding. But Katara had held his wrist in a death grip as if he would vanish or run away if she let up even the smallest amount.

It shouldn't have made that much of an impression. After all, at the time, she had only been using him in whatever power struggle her and Toph were in at that moment. But to realize that she had accepted that he was _there_, that he was apart of _them_, and just as worthy as the Avatar as emotional leverage against her current opponent was in its own way staggering.

To this day, Zuko couldn't remember what the argument had been about or if anyone had actually won, but he remembered quite clearly the mud fight that had ensued between the girls, and how the rest of them had been drawn in when Katara and Toph decided to gang up on them. That was when he learned that Katara had a temper that was ironically very similar to his own.

Everyone had to pitch in to get the common room into anything remotely useable after all the mud slinging, and the whole while they had continued to fight. Not like they had been, but teasingly, comfortably, and lovingly. And he had been silent throughout, drinking it in, wishing his Uncle could have been there to see it.

It had been the turning point or the breaking point however you wanted to look at it, but after that day, Katara had started giving him the same mothering glares she gave the others when she would discover an injury you had forgotten you even had, or the same exasperated sigh when he would not side with her during a fight of wills. He had finally been apart of something. A part that didn't fit perfectly or that well, but one that they had decided they didn't want to go without.

"Leave us with our quest."

Zuko was so lost to his memories that he stiffened when his Uncle made the command. It was rare that the Fire Lord raised his voice, but it commanded obedience whenever he did. The room emptied quickly then, the attendants giving final bows as they exited behind the heavy drapes over the door's entrance.

"Katara my dear!" his Uncle exclaimed, almost skipping across the room after the curtain of flames had been extinguished. He swallowed the young woman in a hug that she eagerly returned. Even though it brought a smile to his face to see his Uncle so pleasantly surprised, Zuko couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the site. At least Iroh had dismissed his attendants before they could see their Fire Lord dissolve into the equivalent of a panda-wolf pup begging for its belly to be scratched.

"How have you been Iroh?" she asked, ignoring both protocol and his Uncle by dropping the 'Fire Lord' and shyly refusing to call him just 'Uncle' despite the Fire Lord's insistence.

"I am much better now that I have such beautiful company to brighten up this dreary place," Uncle told her quite solemnly as he pointedly looked over at his nephew. Zuko resisted the sigh that formed in the back of his throat. It was his duty and an honor to stand before the curtain silently as both protector and advisor to his Uncle. It was not, however, his job to be entertainment for the bored Fire Lord, no matter how much Iroh insisted he 'liven things up'.

"Katara," Zuko greeted with a slight nod. After untangling herself from his uncle, she gave another formal bow in return.

"Prince Zuko."

"Enough," Iroh exclaimed, hastily throwing his arms up. "Enough with all these formalities in the presence of friends and family. Let us adjourn to the garden terrace so that I may sample my present."

"What makes you think I brought you a present?" Katara asked coolly her arms crossed in what Zuko recognized as her disapproving mothering stance.

"You always bring me a present," his Uncle said with an exaggerated pout as he stared at his steepled fingers.

"Uncle," Zuko cut in despairingly, not wanting to disturb the cute little scene, but needing to get his Uncle back on track before he lost him entirely. "Your schedule is full for the remainder of the day until your dinner with the Earth Kingdom representatives."

"I thought we did that yesterday," Iroh replied, his pout turning genuine. Katara attempted to hide her laugh behind her hand but it escaped anyway.

"You postponed it yesterday for a Pai Sho game," Zuko reminded him, not bothering to add that it was the second time his Uncle had delayed the meeting.

The Fire Lord sighed regretfully before gathering up Katara's free hand not holding her pack in both of his. "I am afraid my taskmaster has spoken. But you will be staying for a while, will you not?"

"Of course," she agreed with a tight smile. Zuko didn't think he was truly a suspicious person by nature, just by experience, a by-product of being born into a family that didn't see the value of honesty, but the way Katara seemed to quickly look away from them sparked a doubt in Zuko's mind.

"How about I meet you for morning tea tomorrow," Katara suggested, her smile more genuine than the one before it had been. "I need time to find lodging anyway and…"

"Nonsense."

All three of them jumped at the voice from the direction of the curtain.

"Mai," Zuko gasped in surprise, his lady wife rarely attended any meetings and if she could help it, she didn't leave their rooms until high sun.

Mai floated into the room on the black and vermillion cloud of her formal robes, and Zuko couldn't help but just stare at her. His wife had an effortless regal quality about her that made everyone stop and notice her even when she was silent, which she often was. Mai was beautiful, loyal, cultured, and would be his perfect match when he took the throne as Fire Lord.

Mai gave him a raised eyebrow in sensor, probably for his sudden lack of proper protocol in yelling her name. She formally bowed before them, her eyes not leaving his until the last possible moment before letting them drop.

"If it pleases my Lords, I have made a room ready for Master Katara in the family wing."

"Excellent thinking Lady Mai," Iroh beamed and Mai unfurled from her bow elegantly, accepting the praise with a nod and a bit of a smirk Zuko noticed with narrowed eyes. He trusted his wife not to betray him, but that didn't mean he thought her beyond mischief for mischief. She was after all one of Azula's hand picked companions.

"You knew she was coming?" Zuko asked, as the seed of suspicion that had begun with Katara grew.

"No, but Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is not someone that would go unnoticed in the capital, especially when she comes knocking at our door," Mai told him simply, her blank feature betraying nothing. "A guard informed me she was at our front gate. I had them bring her here for a formal invitation while I prepared her a room."

"I didn't mean to cause you any trouble," Katara protested gently and Zuko couldn't help but noticed that the water bender seemed a bit uncomfortable. But he supposed Katara had never been one to enjoy too much attention directed at her.

"Our allies are always welcome," Mai said graciously, but Zuko had known Mai for too long, as a friend, a lover and now as a husband to miss the teasing smile in her eyes even as her face remained passive. His wife was up to something, of that he was sure.

"I would be remise in my duties to not make available the best we have to offer," the Fire Princess continued as she offered a shallow bow to Katara.

"I thank you for your generosity," Katara returned hesitantly.

"Wonderful," the Fire Lord exclaimed clapping Mai and Katara on the back, making both young ladies stumble closer together. "Well Zuko, we best get going before Kuzu comes looking for us. I trust you Ladies will accompany us to dinner."

Mai accepted for the both of them even though Katara looked like she was about to protest. Zuko turned and followed his Uncle out the doors and an uncomfortable feeling settled over him. The same one he use to get when his sister would smile at him.

He looked back and found his wife lightly grazing her manicured nails along the back of Katara's arm, a predatory grin gracing her lips. The Master Waterbender was glaring back at the Fire Princess, her blue eyes flashing as brightly as her face glowed scarlet with anger. Katara stomped away in the direction Mai was indicating with her free hand, but before she followed, Zuko's lady wife turned to him, seemingly knowing that he had seen them, and then bowed her head with mock servitude.

Zuko took a deep breath and turned to follow his Uncle. If there was one thing his family life had taught him was when to worry, and right now Zuko was very worried.

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I respond best to constructive critique and cookies, not flames.


	3. The Days of Mai

1

The Meaning of Forever

The Days Of Mai

Chapter 3/?

By Paperkat

01/31/08

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Story Synopsis

Just because the war is over doesn't mean the story ends. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.

Chapter Synopsis

Mai isn't the girl she once was, but old habits die hard.

Mai relaxed back into the awkwardly large lounge her servants had dragged out to the turtle duck pond at her explicit request. Zuko would most likely be miffed that the earth around the water feature had been ripped in several places when the lounge had been dragged into position, but it would be interesting to see if her husband would actually say anything.

It had taken three years of marriage, but Zuko had finally learned to control his emotions enough to present an outward facade of calm, at least in public. Of course in no way was the Fire Prince actually tamed, because just below the surface was a churning lava flow. Having the large chair invading his personal oasis was just one of the many tests Mai had subjected him to over the years in order to teach him the restraint and diplomacy he would one day need to be Fire Lord.

However, three years as Zuko's wife had not left Mai unaffected, though she was often loath to admit it. She no longer had to _think_ about feeling it actually happened on its own now, with or without her permission much to her annoyance. This was especially true when it came to Zuko, or Ty Lee or even her genuine regret at betraying Azula in the end. And not even under pain of death would Mai confess that she also cared about her country and its people. Before she could have watched it all slide into the ocean without blinking, but now she thought that she might be disappointed if the Fire Nation failed to prosper.

In truth the braking of the wall her emotions use to hide behind had started with that Agni awful vacation they had spent on Ember Island. The four of them around the fire made from Zuko's memories, speaking of things that had never been said in the ten years they had known each other. But it wasn't when Zuko had pulled her confession from her that Mai began to feel without thinking, or even after her minor outburst at Azula. It had been seeing the look in Zuko's eyes when he said he was scared that he didn't know the difference between right and wrong.

This boy that had finally gained back everything he ever said he wanted was still tortured with something that Mai had never even cared about. When one had Azula as a close personal friend things like right and wrong were meaningless in the face of what you wanted. Mai could have almost understood when the Prince had been obsessed with regaining his honor. After all it was for the honor of her family that she had been made the way she was, but to be so torn by a sense of self and duty as Zuko had been was something Mai had never honestly thought about until that moment.

That's when Mai finally understood the truth of Zuko. He had always burned to do what was right, _always_. It had always consumed him, even when they were children. The only thing that had ever changed was his understanding of right and wrong. But once he found it, found it for himself so that he knew that it was true and pure, the fire that was in Zuko only burned twice as fiercely. And it was that fire that had earned him the love and respect of his people, of his friends and of his wife, even if he still had a hard time seeing it for himself. And right now one of those friends was sitting across from her, looking unquestionably uncomfortable about all the activity fluttering around her.

Mai hid her smirk behind the teacup her servant had just given her. Katara was flustered and on edge and that's exactly how Mai wanted her. The smirk turned to a frown as the unwelcome and annoying feeling of guilt started to surface. Mai quickly squashed that down under her mask of indifference. She needed this woman's help and Mai felt far more comfortable calling Katara on a debt than asking for her for a favor.

The 'debt' was minor as Mai saw it. She had already decided to help Zuko in whatever way she could, it just happened that the first opportunity had been when Azula had been fighting the waterbender, preventing Katara from helping her friends, helping Zuko. The Fire Princess and the Water Tribe peasant had been evenly matched in skill and resourcefulness, but Katara was slowly gaining an edge as she became more and more desperate to reach her friends. She would have won despite Mai's interference; Katara's attacks had progressed from merely subduing Azula to removing her from her path, permanently. But the waterbender had been the one to initiate the debt after Mai had used a sleeping dart on her former friend.

"I owe you one," Katara had said, as she slid by Mai and down the hall to the Fire Lord's inner chambers.

"Remember it," Mai had replied unthinkingly in return as she faced Azula's unconscious body, bracing for an attack that never did come.

Mai had never thought on it again until her need for the Master Waterbender's help became evident. She had sent the note to Katara not knowing what would happen. The message had been purposefully vague as Mai had been unwilling to plead for the other woman's assistance. But on some level she knew that Katara would answer the call. Zuko had once told her that Katara would never turned away from those that needed her. And Mai needed her, because she also owed a debt. A debt she hoped to repay to her husband for loving her despite of who she was.

Mai slipped her hand across the hidden compartment in her robes and felt the carefully folded parchment there. At first Zuko's note explaining his actions had angered her. She had felt hurt, betrayed, abandoned, but then it suddenly occurred to her that she honestly _felt _something. Zuko had not poured out flowing words of love and devotion. He had only expressed his regret for what he had done to his uncle, what he was doing to her by leaving, and that he one day hoped to ask their forgiveness.

He had hoped to return for her forgiveness, not for his throne, not for his honor, but for her forgiveness, and he had. Mai still remembered clearly Ty Lee's look of shock, which probably mirrored her own, when Zuko had bowed down before her. The only thing that saved her from humiliating herself with the tears that had threatened to fall was that idiotic Water Tribe boy Ty Lee was always going on about back then.

He had walked through the room they had been standing in, his arms laden with linens. He had looked over, his eyes widening in surprise to see Zuko on his knees before her. Maybe Sokka had adrenaline coursing through him, or maybe he had thought with the way she had her arm stretched out towards Zuko she was going to attack, but whatever it was he had dropped the sheets and had his boomerang ready for an attack in an instant.

Mai had been too taken by surprise to react. The look in the boy's eyes had promised death for threatening one of their own. Somehow in a few short months, and even after everything he had done to them personally, Zuko had gone from being their most hated enemy to being a trusted ally, and she was going to die for reaching out to him. That is until Katara ran into her brother's back, throwing him off balance enough to almost make him fall.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" the waterbender had demanded, trying to see what was going on over the mound of lines in her own arms.When the girl had finally looked their way, Mai had seen Katara looking back and forth between Zuko and herself.

"They're fine, Sokka."

"What?!" the Water boy had demanded, his boomerang had been ready to throw again, but after his sister's words there had been a doubt of purpose in his eyes as he pointed his weapon at her and Ty Lee. "They were trying to kill us just last week!"

"That was last week," Katara had huffed shoving her pile into her brother's gaping arms. She had given a nod in Mai's direction before pushing her brother ahead of her.

"So, here we are."

Mai was jerked out of her memories by Katara's nervous attempt to gain her attention. To hide the start she had gotten, Mai smiled vacantly at the waterbender before sending her servants away.

"Here we are," Mai agreed only after they had been left completely alone. "More tea?"

Katara looked down at the full cup in her hand as if she had not known it was even there. She murmured a 'no' before placing the delicate pottery aside on the table that had been placed beside her for just such a purpose.

"Lady Mai, I'm not sure what's going on here..."

"I'm not surprised," Mai cut in viciously and inwardly winced. It had been automatic for her to deliver a cutting blow to display her dominance of the situation. It was common practice in court life, but she had not meant to actually anger the girl. And Katara was livid if the fire in her azure eyes was any indication. Zuko had told her stories about the waterbender's explosive anger, but she had never really believed him until now.

"Look, I just sailed half way around the world because of your stupid note," Katara spat out as she jumped to her feet to leave. "If all you wanted was to ridicule me..."

"I am unable to bare Zuko's child!"

The silence that echoed in the garden was a suffocating vacuum to Mai. She had just unceremoniously blurted out her most dire secret, and all the Water Tribe girl could do was stare at her. Mai turned her eyes away, willing the tears she could feel forming to simply vanish. She sat unblinking for what seemed like forever before she heard the scrape of porcelain on stone. Mai looked over and was grateful to find Katara not looking at her but into the depths of her teacup.

"Have you spoken to a physician or healer?" she asked softly. "Are you certain?"

"I have told no one," Mai told her truthfully, the time for maneuvering was over, only honesty would win her Katara's help now. "You are the only one that knows."

Mai had expected for the Master Waterbender to assault her with sympathetic niceties to soothe her, but Katara only nodded, accepting what she had said without question.

"Tell me what has happened so far."

It was then that Mai poured out all that she had been hiding inside for almost three years. She told the waterbender of her many failed pregnancies from the month after her wedding to just two moons past. She told her of all the things she had tried to keep the babies within her, but to no avail. And when Mai was done Katara sighed softly once and gave her only reprimand.

"You should have told Prince Zuko. He would have wanted to know."

Mai felt rage well up, but it came crashing down when Katara continued.

"But I understand why you didn't."

Mai searched those blue eyes for any hint of mockery or pity and found none. "Can anything be done?" she asked and Katara sighed again.

"Honestly I can't tell you until I've examined you for myself." Katara looked up into the clouds and towards the sun that had moved lower in the sky. "There will be a full moon tonight. My powers will be at their fullest then."

"Where shall I meet you?" Mai asked, relieved that Katara seemed to be as eager as she was to solve this problem.

"Here at the pond."

"Here? Why?"

"Waterbender, remember," Katara said with a shrug and a grin. Mai's lips turned down slightly, almost frowning at the other woman's amusement. "And plan on getting wet."

Mai blinked, uncertain if the girl across from her was teasing or serious. When Katara continued to return her stare, Mai was forced to realize that the waterbender was completely serious.

"Can't we do this in the baths?" Mai asked, appalled at the slight whine hidden in the contempt of her voice.

"No, that water is too hard. It's been treated with minerals and fragrances. The pond is clear, natural and alive."

"It's also full of algae," Mai said with distaste.

"That would be the 'alive' part," Katara said, her eyes smiling over her teacup, only making Mai frown more. "Don't tell me you've never been swimming in something that wasn't man made."

"Not intentionally," Mai groused.

"Well, it will be a new experience for both of us." When Mai's only reply was a raised eyebrow, Katara explained. "I've never been swimming with a Princess before."

Mai snorted, but found herself almost smiling in genuine amusement.

After confirming with Katara when to meet, Mai escorted her to her rooms where the waterbender could prepare for their meeting later on that night. Katara had told her to rest also, but that had not been an option for Mai. She was the Fire Princess, and the only female royal in residence; therefore it fell to her to see that all of their guesses were comfortable and content. This task kept her busy until the early evening when she went to her rooms to dress for the evening meal.

"What are you up to Mai?" Zuko asked the moment she opened the door.

"And how are you my Lord Husband?"

The cool reply made Zuko step back a moment, and without actually having to say it, let him know that she was not pleased with his open attack, no matter how accurate it actually was.

There was silence while Mai removed her day robes, but when she crossed the room to select something for the formal dinner she couldn't suppress the laugh forced out by Zuko's pouting frown.

"Are you going to sulk all through dinner?"

"Did you know Katara was coming?" Zuko countered, and Mai simply rolled her eyes. She knew he was suspicious. She could feel it radiating off of him, but she knew how to dispel such feelings, she had been doing it for years.

"No," she told her husband honestly. After all she hadn't known if Katara would actually comply with her request. Zuko nodded his head in acceptance and then frowned even deeper. Mai sighed.

"What's wrong now?"

"Katara wouldn't leave home unless something was wrong."

To that Mai snorted in real amusement, "Please Zuko, she's been to the Earth Kingdom, the North Pole and even here several times without anything being wrong."

"Yeah, but she's never been alone before. It just doesn't make sense."

Mai shrugged, giving the first excuse that came to mind, "Maybe she's looking for a husband. She can't very well do that with her over protective brother and the Avatar bearing over her shoulder. And from what I remember she isn't all that pleased with the men available in the Water Tribes."

To Mai's surprise the idea of the waterbender searching for a mate sent her husband reeling.

"What? Marriage?" Zuko had the most comical look of horror on his face, as if she had just suggested returning his father to the throne. "She's too young for that?!" Now it was Mai's turn to be shocked.

"Zuko, she's only, what is it, two years younger than us, and we've been married for three."

The logic of her suggestion only seemed to disgruntle her husband, so Mai let it drop, though she was highly entertained watching Zuko glare suspiciously at every male that happened to speak to Katara during dinner that evening. Oh, how much fun it would have been to reveal that it was she that Katara was secretly seeing. _That would really set Zuko's head spinning,_ she thought with a smirk. But of course the reason Mai was privately visiting Katara in the garden kept her mouth firmly shut.

At midnight and with her husband safely asleep, Mai crept from their room; her never used bathing clothes hidden under her robe. When she arrived Katara was already waist deep in the water, clothed in only simple white bindings at her breasts and hips. The waterbender's hands and arms moved gracefully over the pond's surface, pulling and pushing the water in long smooth movements.

The moon was glowing on her skin and in her hair making them seem an even richer shade of brown than in the harsh sunlight and the water was shimmering from within as if the stars had been pulled out of the ether of the night sky and suspended there. For the first time Mai felt awed in the Master Waterbender's presence. She had seen Katara's powers in battle, but she had never seen anything like this.

"The water's not deep here," Katara told her softly her hand now outstretched and beaconing.

Mai felt pulled towards the water and vaguely wondered if she had fallen into some kind of waterbending spell. Her robe was left behind on the bank when Mai took her first hesitant step in. The pond was warmer than she thought it would be, and when Katara directed her to lie back, Mai didn't question it.

She floated there for what seemed like forever, Katara's fingertips flowing over her skin, along the lines of chakra, never stopping, never hesitating until the waterbender came to her womb. Katara lingered there, one hand below and one hand above. For a moment Mai thought she felt her stomach turn to liquid and Katara's hands pass through and into her. Then the sensation was gone and the cold Mai had expected to feel when first entering the water closed in around her.

"Something is wrong with me, isn't there?" Mai asked, but she already knew the answer. She could see it in the way Katara refused to look into her eyes. "Tell me what it is."

"You have Mother's Cure in your blood."

Of all the things it could have been, Mai had never suspected that. Mother's Cure was a poison given to woman that had birthed too many children. It wasn't toxic to the mother in the prescribed dose, but with enough treatments it rendered her womb incapable of holding a child.

"That's impossible," Mai choked out, her voice breaking with her heart. "I never...How?"

"I don't know," Katara told her softly. "But it's been in your system for a very long time, years."

Mai felt like she was suffocating, like she was drowning there in the damn pond with the koi and the stupid little turtle ducks Zuko loved so much. But the worse part was that she knew that there was more, because Katara still wouldn't look at her.

"Tell me," Mai growled out, her fierceness forcing Katara to fix her tearful blue eyes with her's.

"You're pregnant..."

Katara didn't need to fill in the 'for now', Mai already knew. Mai felt like screaming, crying, throwing up and dying all at once. She would never be able to give Zuko a child, an heir. The royal bloodline would end with him, because even as obsessed as he was with returning honor to the Fire Nation, Zuko was equally obsessed with never dishonoring himself again. He would never take a concubine or set her aside for another wife, just to produce a child. The idea would be abhorrent to him.

"Save it," Mai commanded.

"If I could have removed the poison when it was first..."

Mai wouldn't let her protest. "You are a Master Waterbender and even the Avatar himself says that there has never been a more powerful waterbending healer. You brought the Avatar back from death itself, so do not tell me you cannot save a life that is already here, that you would not save the life of a child."

Katara looked away, the tears were falling from her eyes in great streams now.

"Mai, I have no idea what it will do to you..."

"I don't care!" she raged and Mai no longer cared who saw or heard her. "You owe me this!"

It was an empty declaration, but Mai saw Katara's will buckle. Maybe she had just needed an excuse to do something that was against her code of honor of causing no harm. But whatever it was Mai didn't care as long as it meant that Zuko's child would live.

Katara said nothing as she lifted her face to the night sky, her eyes were as white as the full moon above her. The water around Mai turned warm again and soon that liquid sensation returned. But instead of it focusing solely on her abdomen Mai felt like her whole body was melting away and the only thing keeping her together was the powerful will of the Waterbender holding her.

Mai felt her spirit leave her body for a moment, and in that instant she saw the tiny life that was struggling to survive inside of her poisoned womb. For the first time in her life, Mai felt unending, unconditional love and knew that she had made the right decision, no matter what it cost her in the end.

The next time she opened her eyes, Mai found herself laid out on the bank of the pond. Her swimming clothes where already dry, testament to how long she had laid there even if the moon low in the sky had not already told her. Mai splayed her hand across her flat stomach almost expecting something to have changed.

"Should I even bother asking why you're here, or is this one of those things I just wouldn't understand."

Mai sat up, but did not look in her husband's direction. She could tell by his tone that Zuko was furious even though he hadn't raised his voice above a whisper. Mai remained silent as she pulled on her robe lying beside her. When she lifted her hands to pull her hair from under her robe, Mai caught a glint of silver in the shadow of the tree on the other side of the pond. She fiddled with her hair a bit more as she stared into the inky black smudge and gasped when a pair of faintly glowing blue eyes opened and stared back at her.

"Mai, are you alright?" Zuko asked, concern softening the annoyance in his voice. He came to her, almost standing directly between Mai and Katara's listless eyes. She accepted his silent offer of a hand up, but immediately dropped his hand and straightened the sash around her waist. Just to the left of Zuko's elbow, Mai saw Katara nod her head slowly, and somehow she knew what the waterbender was trying to tell her. It had worked, the baby would live, but when silver tears started racing down the other woman's cheeks Mai also knew that the cost was final.

"Look Mai, I know that you're keeping something secret from me…"

"You are going to be a father by summer," Mai quickly broke into Zuko's tirade.

The Fire Prince stood unmoving, his mouth still slightly open from being caught in the middle of talking.

"Say something," Mai told him, her uncertainty turning to bitter anger the longer they stood in silence. She had just given her life to give him a child and all he could do was stare at her!

"You're serious?" Zuko asked, his paralysis now broken as he closed the remaining distance between them. "Of course you're serious. You're always serious, and you would never lie about something like this."

Zuko reached for her, but didn't seem to know where to place his hands. Finally he settled for draping his arms around her shoulders and pressing his scar against her face. Mai let him hold her, thankful that his building excitement masked the stiffness of her body.

"I can't believe this. I mean I believe you…You're sure, right? You've had someone…" Zuko paused his wild, almost frantic rambling to push Mai away to look into her pale amber eyes. "Katara. That's why Katara's here," Zuko laughed then, pulling Mai into a tighter hug. Mai watched Katara took away from them, her hands coming to her face to silence the sobs she saw rocking the waterbender's shoulders.

"I know you have a thing about always having the best of everything, but having Katara come all the way from the South Pole is a little extreme, don't you think?" Zuko continued sounding bemused at his wife's extravagance, unaware of the turmoil circling around him in a silent storm.

Mai said nothing, but held Zuko tighter as Katara disappeared from her sight. The darkness had swallowed the waterbender whole, leaving no trace that she had even been there. Mai had gone into this willing to give her life, but never once had she thought of what it would also cost Katara.

-------------------------------

I respond best to constructive critique and cookies, not flames.


	4. The End of Eden

The Meaning of Forever

The End of Eden

Chapter 4/?

By Paperkat

02/13/08

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Story Synopsis

Just because the war is over doesn't mean the story ends. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.

Chapter Synopsis

Iroh has underestimated the power of repeating history.

Iroh had decided somewhere after his fourth cup of honeyed wine he rather liked being a Prince again. Of course he was not called a 'Prince', the very idea of someone of his advanced age having such a young sounding title was just plain silly in his opinion. Thankfully the new Fire Lord, his beloved nephew, had agreed and he was officially referred to as just Lord Iroh or General Iroh. Iroh really hadn't expected to be able to abdicate the throne this soon, but much had changed in the last seven months.

It had been originally decided by the remaining members of the ruling council after Ozai's fall that it would be easier for the nation to accept Iroh as Fire Lord than a Prince that was once banished, returned and then condemned as traitor all in a span of only three years. Plus, Zuko had still been a boy, and Ozai had never included his son on any matters of state, only Azula. Even if his nephew had have been given the crown, he would have had no idea what to do with it. But now Zuko was more than ready. The Prince had learned much in these nearly seven years since the fall of his father. Iroh felt a great swell of pride as he watched his nephew.

It still amazed Iroh the changes he had seen come over Zuko after Mai's announcement of her pregnancy. He had never seen his nephew so content with his life or so confident, and Iroh was not the only one that noticed. The murmurings of succession in the Council had almost been immediate after the formal royal announcement of an heir, as if this had been the sign that they were waiting for from Zuko.

The nation also took notice as the Prince took on a more hands on public approach to his duties instead of hiding behind the enigma that was the royal family. It was only two short months after the announcement before representatives from the providences started to report a sentiment within the populous for Zuko to take his rightful place. And Iroh had never seen such an enthusiastic response to his proclamation that he was stepping aside and putting Zuko on the throne. In the old general's eyes everything over the last seven months had been idyllically perfect, a welcome change to the first 17 years of his nephew's life.

The celebration was alive with music, dancing and true merriment. He blamed himself, of course. After the rather dull affair that had been Zuko's wedding (with the exception of Aang and Katara and the small group they were able to drag into dancing with them), Iroh had gone to great pains to make sure that fun was encouraged at social events. But today was Zuko's day and Iroh's nephew had set the tempo.

As was expected of the new Fire Lord, his nephew had been quietly stoic throughout the sunrise ceremony on the cliff side overlooking the sea. It had been the first time that particular ancient rite had been used in a thousand years, and it had only been through Aang's past lives that they had even known how to conduct it. All references to the rite had been destroyed for being unpatriotic in Sozin's time.

The ritual mentioned an ancient ledged of how the four elements came together to forge the Fire Nation; how the calming wind whispered to the turbulent sea to allowed the unwavering earth to rise above it and give birth to the first fire. It required his nephew to present himself to the other three elements when he declared himself Fire Lord, and if they found fault with him it was then that they should strike him down. Aang, Toph and Katara had represented their elements; the Avatar spoke of how the air would always take the Fire Lord's council, Toph declared that the earth was ever a friend for Zuko to rely upon, and Katara bowed promising that the sea was ever watchful over the Fire Nation. It had been the perfect way for Zuko to show the nations his dedication to restoring the balance the world had been lacking for over a hundred years.

Of course Iroh had expected for Zuko's reserved behavior to carryover to the celebration after, but to Iroh's delight Zuko was not only participating, he was having a great deal of fun. There had been a brief moment of melancholy when the Fire Lady had begged off from the festivity sighting her expanding belly and the rising heat of the approaching summer, but Mai had insisted that her husband enjoy himself and that was exactly what Zuko did.

No one was more surprised than Iroh when the newly crowned Fire Lord accepted the Avatar's challenge of a dance off. Poor Aang had to scramble to find a dance partner since Katara had left the celebration early feeling unwell and Zuko had snatched Toph up as soon as he had accepted the challenge despite Ty Lee's pout of being passed over. Aang had settled for Suki (after Sokka had shooed his wife away with promises of keeping their infant son, Otok, safe and entertained), and while the Kyoshi warrior was exceptionally graceful, she did not have the unconscious connection that was so obvious between the Avatar and Katara. Of course both young men had difficultly convincing their partners to let them led; Suki was a leader of warriors and did not easily give over responsibility and Toph… well, Toph was Toph and no other explanation was really necessary.

_Ah, young Mistress Toph_, Iroh thought with a lopsided, slightly inebriated grin. She was by far the closest of the Avatar's little gang to his mischief loving side. In a strange way she had always reminded him of Zuko, but with a sense of humor, a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. She, like his nephew, often perceived offers of help as a form of pity not as extensions of love. They were both fiercely independent and tended to learn better from their mistakes than from example. If fate were kinder, the earthbender would have been Zuko's sister.

Of course if fate were kinder these children would have never had to see war or experienced the losses they had suffered throughout their young lives. But it had been through these children, now young adults that their world had been saved. And it was these same children that had restored his own faith in his nephew.

Iroh was ashamed to admit it, but he had given up on Zuko after his betrayal at Ba Sing Se, and the old general had hardened his heart against the boy that had only ever wanted to be loved. After his escape, Iroh had been an active functioning member of the White Lotus and had been trying to free some core members from a Fire Nation prison when the Avatar's gang found him. He had been in minimal disguise as it seemed the his wanted posters never did him justice, and the plan had been to allow himself to be arrested and then to bust out with his comrades in tow. He had just gotten to the 'being arrested' part when suddenly around the corner came the fiery young waterbender, her brother and the earthbender.

Katara had been the first to notice him as she had been looking over the prisoners lined up there in the marketplace being readied for transfer to the prison. Her bright blue eyes had held such compassion and sorrow that Iroh felt great hope for the world with people like Katara in it. After all that she had been through, she still had enough love left in her heart for strangers from a nation that had done nothing but iflicted harm to her own people. When those crystalline eyes had fallen to him he had known instantly that he had been discovered.

Iroh remembered cringing when it appeared that the girl's first action was to shout out to him, but she had pulled back, grabbing her brother and Toph's attention, while not bringing any to herself. He had wished for a way to let them know that everything was fine, that he had actually needed to be there, but there had been no opportunity before the three of them had nodded their heads in agreement of something and had headed his way.

Katara and Toph were the first to reach where he had been chained to the line with the other prisoners. The young earthbender had allowed herself to be half guided half dragged to his side by the older girl as if she truly could not manage on her own. The both of them had approached with great wet tears in their eyes and they had whimpered quite piteously. The girls had lumber straight passed the guards who had been at a lost at what to make of the two seemingly distraught children.

"Grandfather!" They had both wailed as they threw themselves across his chest, one to each shoulder. To his great horror he had actually blushed at such an outpouring of affection, it had been a very long time since anyone had been that physically affectionate with him. Before he could even take in what had been happening, a new wail had erupted in front of him, and it had been like nothing Iroh had ever seen.

Sokka had howled a cry of pain and suffering so dramatic that Iroh was sure that the boy would be found out as a fake. But somehow the way the water tribe boy crawled his way across the street to the feet of the prison guards, tears and snot running down his race in impossible proportions only made Sokka's pleading that much more believable.

"Please, oh Please!" the boy had cried, latching onto the leg of the closest solider, his bottom lip had been trembling most comically. "Don't take our Grandfather away!"

At that point the girls had started rocking and pulling at him, crying all the louder in their 'grief'. Sokka had then launched into a long circular meaningless rambling plea as he went from solider to solider, begging, pleading and keeping the guards eyes on him and away from the girls. Small, strong calloused hands had then moved along his arm with alarming surety until they stopped at the shackles at his wrists.

"No wait," he had tried to plea, when he realized the earthbender's intention, but Toph had been too fast. Her fingers had made quick almost tapping pushes against the poorly forged metal, and Iroh had felt the maniacal give way at the hinge point like rice paper.

"We'll have you out of here in a minute," Katara had whispered with an encouraging smile, but then her arms and hands had moved along his reduced torso, most likely looking for injury, her blue eyes had frowned with equal parts concern and anger.

"They've been starving you!"

If the situation had have been different Iroh was sure he would have laughed out loud at that innocent statement. Here he had worked quiet hard at returning himself to the warrior he one had once been and she had assumed that his slimmer body was due to starvation. But at the time he didn't have the luxury of mirth.

"Stop, the two of you," he had pleaded gently, tugging their robes discretely to gain their attention. When both girls halted he had tried to explain.

"As much as I appreciate and am flattered by your concern it is unnecessary." When they had tried to protest he had given another sharp tug to silence them. "I am here for a purpose. And I must fulfill it."

"You're asking us to leave you here?!" Toph had exclaimed testily, the look on her face had been fierce despite her vacant eyes.

"No, I am telling you let me do what I must," he had pleaded though he saw that they had been unwilling to so easily abandon him. In that moment he had been quite sure the world would be just fine with these children to look after it. But he had needed to complete his mission and he had used the only leverage he thought he had against them. "There are people depending on me."

"Toph?" Katara had asked after a brief pause, as her piercing blue eyes had bored into him.

"He's not lying," the Blind Bandit had assured grudgingly. Iroh had been momentarily disappointed that they had not immediately believed him, after all he had done everything he could to help them up until that point.

"I would never lie to you."

"Yes you would," Toph had told him with a snort.

"If you thought it would keep us from harm," Katara had finished with a disapproving shake of her head as if she were scolding his childish behavior.

Iroh had been forced to concede that they were right with a nod. If it had truly been up to him none of these children would have seen war.

"Truly I will be fine," he had tried to reinforce his statement with what he had hoped was a winning smile.

The girls had sighed in defeat and that had been when Sokka had thrown himself on top of them, his long arms encircling all of them. Over the boy's shoulder, Iroh saw the guards wiping drool and other fluids from their uniforms with disgust.

"So, are we ready to bust out of here," the water tribe warrior asked as his shoulders shook to simulate crying.

"Iroh's staying," Katara had informed her brother, her mothering frown not diminishing even if she had accepted the old general's wishes.

"What?"

"Iroh says he's got some kinda plan," Toph had added when the water tribe boy didn't seem to believe his sister.

"Great," Sokka had grown. "Well, I'm not going to be the one to tell Aang and Zuko that we..."

"Zuko?!" Iroh had started in surprise. At that time he had heard vague rumors that his nephew was with the Avatar, but he had not truly believed them.

"Yeah, remember that whole inside/outside being good thing he had trouble with before?" Sokka had asked in his off handed flippant way that the retired general had always found to be most amusing. Iroh had clearly remembered the conversation with the water tribe boy before searching for Zuko and Katara in Ba Sing Se. He had nodded in understanding and Sokka had continued. "Well, he's kinda got it going on all over, so he's running with us now."

"Zuko?" he had asked stupidly.

"He's teaching Aang firebending," Toph had supplied smugly. Iroh had been stunned before it had hit him that he should have been concerned. He had loved his nephew dearly, but he would not have been Iroh first, second or ever tenth choice as teacher.

"By the Spirits we are all doomed."

"It's not that bad," Sokka had replied and Iroh had been taken aback by the boy's defense of his nephew. "I mean at first it was bad, he sucked actually, but after he learned that fire dancing move thing he's gotten pretty good in a good way, not like his bad way."

"Sokka, that doesn't even make any sense," the boy's sister had groaned, but Iroh had paid them very little attention.

"The Dancing Dragon," Iroh had whispered in disbelief. His beloved, hotheaded, impatient nephew had actually been judged by the Masters and found to be worthy. And better still these children had judged Zuko and had found him worthy. Iroh was uncertain he would ever be prouder of his nephew than he had at that moment.

"My Lord."

A servant at his elbow pulled Iroh from his memories and he quickly wiped the moisture from his eyes with the pretense of wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Yes?" Iroh asked the extremely nervous looking man.

"My Lord, the Fire Lady is requesting Master Katara."

"The baby?" Iroh immediately asked as he forced the alcohol from his blood with an expelling of steam, a trick he had picked up in his rather scandalous youth.

"I believe so, my Lord, but I do not see Master Katara and Lady Mai was quite adamant that a fuss not be made," the man told him and Iroh could see why the servant was so nervous, Mai, even in her more gentle mood since the conception of the child, did not suffer her orders disobeyed.

"Master Katara retired to her room earlier." When the servant jumped to leave, Iroh stopped him. "I will retrieve her, you return to our Fire Lady and see that she is comfortable."

The servant hesitantly moved off as if he was unsure if an order from a Prince would out rank one of a Queen.

"So, Hotman's gonna be Fire Lord and a daddy all in one day."

Iroh jumped in surprise to find Toph standing just behind him, a smug grin widening her mouth. Nature had been very kind to Toph in her developing years, and though the attitude and the smile were still exactly like the child he once knew the package had matured quite… abundantly. She was still petite but very proud of the fact she was at least taller than Katara, if only by a hair's breadth. It had truly been an honor to see that despite her dislike of such things, Toph had worn very formal robes to the coronation; of course she had promptly abandoned them for more comfortable and disturbingly alluring clothing for the current festivities. Iroh resisted his fatherly instinct of offering her a cloak to ware, knowing that it would not be received happily.

"Yes, it would seem that Zuko is to have a very memorable day."

"Well, let's go get Sugar Queen and get the real party hoppin'."

Iroh accepted the arm Toph offered him and only grinned when the young lady practically dragged him across the room. Just as he had been about to pass through the doorway, Iroh had caught his nephew's questioning look, to which he shrugged and pointed to the earthbender bodily marching him along side her. It was best that Zuko not immediately know what was happening. First babies were always long in coming and if his nephew's overprotective nature over the last seven months were anything to go by, their Fire Lord would be a nervous wreck before this was all done.

"I can't believe Hotman's Fire Lord and a dad!"

"Is it any different than Sokka?" Iroh had to ask. The water tribe warrior was younger than Zuko by just under two years, but he was recently elected Chief of his home village and his own son was more than half a year old.

"Please don't remind me," Toph said with a shudder. "I still remember when Katara was mending the holes in his pants and telling him not to lick things he found on cave walls. The thought of him raising a child is scary."

Iroh briefly wondered if the young lady beside him still harbored any ill feelings towards her childhood crush. She had been just sixteen when Sokka and Suki wed, but by that time Toph's feelings for the water tribe boy had been more obvious, it had been too late. But there had not been any bitterness in her words, just wry amusement; testament to how much she had grown in maturity.

"I am sure Suki is more than capable of looking after both of them."

"Yeah, more power to her. I wouldn't want…" Toph abruptly stopped, her face wrinkling up in distaste. "What's that smell?"

They had just entered the courtyard leading to the visiting dignitaries wing of the palace when the earthbender's nose had been offended. Iroh knew that the palace staff had done quite a lot of gardening in preparation for their guests, but he couldn't see Toph complaining about fertilizer and freshly tilled earth. He let the blind young woman led them with her nose, but it wasn't until they stepped off the walkway and into the full force of the high noon sun that Iroh smelled it too.

"It's like burnt sweet melons, or…"

"Rotting kiwi-berry root," Iroh supplied with alarm.

He knew that smell, had been trained to recognize it for the poison that it was and knew that if the smell was apparent then its victim was already in dire need. There was no wind in the courtyard to help give away a location, but Iroh's sharp eyes caught the glint of gold among the fallen fire blossoms near the back of the courtyard.

Toph did not protest when Iroh took the led, uncaring of the flowers that they crushed in his haste. Lying among the orange to scarlet red blossoms was a pair of gold and ivory hair sticks crafted to resemble the flowers they laid on. With mounting dread, Iroh let go of Toph's arm to lift the low hanging branches of the Fire Nation's most prized flora. Camouflaged there in an elegant dress in the same color as the flowers around her was the woman he had been looking for, but not like this.

"Toph, run to the hall, find Aang, tell him that Katara has been poisoned with kiwi-berry root," Iroh instructed as he knelt beside the waterbender, gathering her limp body to him. Katara's naturally dark skin was now ashen grey and slippery as if covered in oil, confirming Iroh's diagnosis of poison.

"What?" Toph gasped stunned as she fell to her knees beside them, her hands instantly roaming her friend's body searching for signs of life.

"Go now!" Iroh commanded harshly fearing that Katara would need every precious moment. No tears fell from Toph's sightless eyes, but the fear he saw there was enough to bring a sting to his own. The earthbender didn't hesitate a moment longer, and the ground quaked under her bare feet in her haste.

Carefully Iroh examined Katara's mouth and was relieved to find that her tongue had yet to blacken, a good sign that the antidote could be retrieved in time. It was an easily made and common poison in the Fire Nation, as the kiwi-berry bush was abundant all across the islands, and luckily its antidote was just as easy to come by. If the seeds of the plant were crushed into a paste and then applied to the gums of the victim before the poison reached the brain, then its affects were completely reversible.

It puzzled Iroh why Katara was here, so far off of the path, until he found her hands and the ground around her head to be wet when there was no reason for them to be. This was the only palace garden that did not boast a fountain because it had a natural spring running through it. During the rainy season a small brook would meander its way around the decorative stones, but now, at the height of the dry season, the spring had retreated underground. As powerful as she was with waterbending, Katara must have sensed the water below her and had instinctually sought it out but had been too sick to help herself.

"Where is she?!"

Iroh looked up to find Sokka frantically searching the garden, his wife and crying son beside him. It didn't take the Water Tribe Chief long to notice the rotund General and his fallen sister and just as careless as Iroh had been, Sokka marched through the already crushed flowers.

"How long has she been ill?" Iroh questioned, letting the distraught young man pull his sister to him.

"She's been acting strange for months," Sokka began to ramble distractedly as he swept Katara's loose hair from her sticky forehead.

"Today Sokka," Iroh clarified. "She would have been given the poison today."

"Just after the toast," Toph chimed in. "Before the meal came she said that she felt light headed."

"She hardly ate anything," Suki supplied, her son whimpering at her shoulder.

"All the glasses were filled at the same time and from the same pitcher," Iroh reasoned aloud, trying to process when and how this could have happened, under his own roof. "And no one else is ill."

"Mai left after the toast," Zuko added weakly, Iroh had not noticed his nephew arrive.

The old general's startled eyes met the Fire Lord's and he knew that they were thinking the same thing. The royal family, or any family of standing in the Fire Nation for that matter, was always concerned with the possibility of assassination, but with the prolonged good fortune they had been experiencing the thought had not entered Iroh's mind when the servant had come to him. But what better timing could there be. The palace was full of guests, many with their own servants accompanying them, the new Fire Lords's heir was as yet unborn and easily dispatched, the only thing that could have gotten in the way was having the most powerful healer alive in attendance and now she lay poisoned.

"Nephew, Toph and I were on our way to find Katara at Lady Mai's request…," Iroh started to explain to Zuko to inform him of all that had transpired this evening, but the Fire Lord cut him off.

"And you didn't see fit to tell me this?"

Iroh could hear the rage in the softness of his nephew's voice, and bowed his head in subjugation. "No, my Lord."

"I have the kiwi-berries," Aang said as he dropped out of the sky into the courtyard, his glider snapping shut before his feet touched the ground. The Fire Lord pushed past the Avatar, causing the younger man to drop some of the fruit tucked away in his shirt.

"Do you know what to do?" Iroh asked quickly coming to his feet, intending to follow Zuko even if his nephew did not want to see him at the moment. The Fire Lord was allowing his temper to override his good sense, something that had not happened in many years.

"Mash the seeds, coat the inside of the mouth and wait for fever sweats before giving any water," Aang said mechanically as if he were reading straight off a scroll, his hands already busy plucking the small black seeds from the fruit's fuzzy red surface.

"Good boy," Iroh absently praised, his mind already following Zuko towards the family wing of the palace. "Reserve a portion of the antidote, we may need it for another patient."

Iroh was already exiting the courtyard when he heard Toph and Aang exchange words.

"Who?"

"Mai."

"Oh no."

Iroh moved quickly down the halls, only stopping briefly to give the tense guards in the reception hall instructions to not let anyone, not nobleman or peasant, leave the palace. He also commanded them to send Jeong Jeong to guard the Avatar's group and instructed them where they could be found. When Iroh turned the last corner he found a croud of servants, some crying and many looking like they wished they could were outside the Fire Lady's private rooms.

"I SAID LEAVE ME!"

A blaze of golden red light preceded the royal physician out of the doorway. Two of Lady Mai's attendants broke the aging man's fall as he tripped over his own robes in his efforts to exit the room as quickly as possible.

"The Fire Lord has gone mad!" the royal physician declared, his once long and stately beard reduced to a smoldering stub on his chin.

"What has happened?" Iroh questioned trying to inject a sense of stability to the situation by remaining calm. It took a few seconds for the fear and shock to fade, but slowly the doctor collected himself and addressed the former Fire Lord.

"The Fire Lady fell ill after the new heir was born…"

"The baby lives, it is all right?" Iroh asked abruptly, feeling his heart start beating again at the unexpected good news.

"Yes, Prince Roku is fine and healthy," the royal physician stated almost proudly, motioning for a nursemaid over to them. She held out a tiny bundle that Iroh had not noticed earlier. The only part of the prince visible in the gold colored cloth was his pale face between his chin and his black eyebrows. Iroh could immediately tell that Roku took after Ursa's side of the family, making his given name in honor of his Avatar Great-Great-Grandfather that much more appropriate. When the infant opened his eyes they were the murky brown that all Fire Nation natives possessed until they settled into a shade between clear gold to medium brown.

"And what of his mother," Iroh asked when he reached out to touch his Grandnephew's pale cheek.

"I fear that Lady Mai will not make it to nightfall."

"Is there nothing to be done?" Iroh asked softly before adding what extra knowledge he possessed. "Master Katara has been found poisoned with kiwi-berry root, could this be what is causing the Fire Lady to fail?"

The physician shook his head and lowered his eyes.

"It is a poison to be sure, but nothing so simple as kiwi-berry root." The distraught man lifted his open palms before Iroh in a helpless gesture. "I have given our Lady all of the purging herbs that I know and nothing has worked. I had hoped that Master Katara would be able to help but if she has been poisoned…"

"There is a plot at work here, yes I know," Iroh agreed with the unspoken statement before he had to ask, "Is she suffering?"

"She is in no pain, but her heart grows weaker with every beat," came the reply.

Iroh knew the sorrow of losing a spouse. Though his wife had died in childbirth, not by an assassin's hand, he had been left to raise his son without his mother. His wife had been a lovely young lady of the court and would have been a perfect Fire Lady one day, just as Mai had been. The more Iroh thought about it, the more the old general began to realize how he and Zuko's lives paralleled each other. But now was not the time for remembering those that had passed, now was the time to help those that remained. With one last look at the peacefully sleeping newborn prince, Iroh took a deep, calming breath and steeled himself for what he knew he needed to do.

-------------------------------

I respond best to constructive critique and cookies, not flames.


	5. Captive Audience

1The Meaning of Forever

Captive Audience

Chapter 5/?

By Paperkat

02/19/08

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Story Synopsis

Just because the war is over doesn't mean the story ends. Mainly Katara and Zuko centric.

Chapter Synopsis

Chief Sokka has found someone to relate to.

"And then, they wanted twenty pelts! Can you believe it? Twenty!" Sokka ranted, the bowl in his hands rocking precariously as he gestured with one hand and pounded the pestle into the mortar with the other. "Do you know how long it takes to get a polar leopard pelt, just one? Weeks. Maybe months if the seals have moved inland."

Sokka threw a glance over his shoulder at his audience. With a measuring eye, the Southern Water Tribe Chieftain judged the temperament and fortitude of the now silent listener before turning back to his task. Sokka threw a few more ingredients into the smooth stone bowl and started pounding again.

"I mean sure I could send a full hunting party out, but what's the village going to do in the mean time? Food don't grow on trees around here, you've got to go get it and convince it with a blunt object to come home with ya."

Stopping a moment to examine the mixture in the bowl, Sokka pushed it around a few more times to test the consistency before deciding it was perfect. The pestle was traded for a small, shallow spoon that he used to scrape the sides of the bowl, collecting the contents in a slimy pile at the bottom.

"Alright now, I know we've had this discussion before, but I'm serious this time," Sokka said as he pulled over a low stool and sat down barely a foot from his companion. The Chief's blue eyes were hard and unyielding as he continued.

"You have to eat all of this and I'm not going to take any lip from you this time, Little Bit."

Prince Roku blinked his clear golden eyes and regarded the Southern Water Tribe Chief with a bored stare. Of course there wasn't much else he could do since he was swaddled and strapped to a board that was mounted on a post near the warmth of the lodge's fire, but it was better than the Fire Nation child crying. Not that Roku cried often, or made that much noise at all, a fact that bothered both Sokka and his wife. It just wasn't normal for infants to be so… blah.

"Ok, open up," Sokka instructed, offering a half full spoon to the prince. Roku's tiny eyes narrowed and he turned his head away.

"Ah, come on, I promise you'll like it this time," Sokka entreated, as he reposition the spoon to be in front of the baby's mouth, and once again Roku turned away.

"I put twice the blubber and half the prunes," the young Chief tried to tempt with a sing-song voice, but the Fire Nation Prince just tighten his lips further when Sokka pressed the spoon to them.

"I even but in some of that fire spice," Sokka told the prince. "But if you tell Suki you're on your own next nappy change."

The seven-month-old infant still refused the offer of food despite the fact it had been many hours since Suki had given Roku his breakfast. It bothered Sokka how little the prince-ling ate, and how tiny Roku still seemed to be. The reason the little boy was still swaddled at this age was because of his utter lack of baby fat. Roku just couldn't handle the cold, arctic weather unless he was tightly wrapped in warm furs. Sokka would have blamed it on him being fire nation and just not being of the right stock for this part of the world, but Tom-Tom, Ruko's own uncle, had been a nice round little thing at this age and would have done just fine.

Not for the first time Sokka wondered if the poison that had killed his mother had permanently damaged the heir to the Fire Nation in some way. It was a fear that he knew he shared with Suki and the small group of four Fire Nation Elite Guards, Roku's Honor Guard, that had been assigned to watch over the prince. He wished he could talk to Katara about it, but his sister had not acted normal since the day Roku was born.

_She_ was the one named as the prince's guardian. It was _her_ duty to care and watch over Roku at the Fire Lady's dying request, a request that was made official by Fire Lord Zuko the next morning with a declaration of Prince Roku's wardship to the Southern Water Tribe. In short, Zuko had given Roku to Katara until the prince's fourteenth birthday when he would resume his place as crowned prince.

Apparently it was a common practice of the Fire Nation's upper class with second sons, but completely unheard of for a first-born or boys younger than 10 years. But there had been to time to question the order when the entire Southern Water Tribe Delegation was sent away from the Fire Nation for their protection from the plot that had killed their Fire Lady and nearly killed the most powerful waterbender alive.

It should have been Katara feeding, clothing and more importantly changing Prince Roku's nappies, not him, but his sister had retreated mentally into some kind of void since the day she woke from being cured of the kiwi-berry poison. She hardly spoke or ate without being prompted to, and she spent most of her time looking out over the sea.

Sokka was on the verge of contacting Aang and demanding that he use his Avatar-y-ness do something about this situation, either for Ruko's sake or his sister's but Suki held him back and he understood the reasons why. Sokka couldn't let it appear that they, the Southern Water Tribe, was unable or unfit to care for a single infant, they couldn't afford to seem that incompetent. He also didn't want to shout out to the world that his sister was not currently functioning with all her oars in the water.

Katara was their biggest deterrent to being run over by the larger more developed countries. She was well known and respected, and it gave them at least a small amount of leverage in trading negotiations. Not that it seemed to have any weight with that Earth Kingdom merchant. Twenty pelts! What was he thinking! The infant in front of him gave a bored sigh, and broke Sokka from his silent musings.

"Sorry about that, Little Bit," Sokka apologized as he freshened up the untouched mashed food on the spoon. He offered it to Roku again with the same results.

"Look it's not that bad," Sokka declared with a huff as he shoveled the food into his own mouth. At first he was shocked that he had unthinkingly put baby mush in his own mouth, but after a second of rolling around the slightly chunky, salty, sweet meaty mixture with a spice kick, Sokka hummed his approval.

"Actually, it really isn't that bad," he said somewhat surprised and impressed with his own cooking as he loaded up the spoon for a second taste. It was half way to his mouth when he caught the Fire Prince glaring at him.

"Figures," Sokka grumbled. "Now you want it because I like it."

Roku's only response was to pop his mouth open. Sokka shoved the spoon in before the prince could change his mind and was delighted to see that done of the mixture came gushing back out. The spoon was hardly refilled before the infant was silently demanding more, mouth wide open.

"Now we're talking," Sokka praised and tried to keep up with the eating machine.

"I've been thinking," the young chief said, as his arm moved back and forth from bowl to baby. "You're going to need to gain a few more pounds and a proper Tribe name pretty soon if you are going to be staying with us, because you really don't want to be called 'Little Bit' trust me."

Suki had taken to calling Roku 'a little bit of nothing' with how tiny he was, and the nickname had stuck, at least around their lodge. The most the other villagers had seen of the prince was on the rare occasions that it was mild enough to take Roku outside with the arctic winter rolling in. Sokka frowned but Roku ignored everything but the spoon.

"I can't believe it's been seven months and we haven't heard a peep out of your father," the water tribe male told the fire nation infant.

"I mean I understand what Iroh was saying about a national period of morning and all, but seven whole months without even a single letter?" Sokka said with disapproval.

"I know that Iroh's Pai Sho buddies are keeping him up to date," Sokka amended, referring to the old general's personal guard that were hand picked from the White Lotus ranks and were probably at this very moment just outside the lodge door watching and listening. "But to go seven months without once asking how his own son is doing, it just… wrong."

Sokka had tried to put himself in Zuko's place. He had tried to image what it must have been like for the Fire Lord. Sokka constantly asked himself what he would have done if the same thing happened to Suki, but the same answer kept coming up. He would have not let Otok out of his sight for even a moment until he killed the basters that took his mother from them.

"No offense or anything Roku, but your father can be real stupid sometimes."

"I told you not to speak ill of his father in front of him."

Both the Chief and the open-mouthed Prince turned at the sound of Suki's voice from the doorway.

"It's not like he knows what I'm saying," Sokka grumbled, popping another spoonful into the baby's waiting mouth. "Or that it isn't true," he added under his breath.

"Sok-ka," Suki warned, drawing out the syllables in his name to show her displeasure.

"Fine," he relented giving Roku the last bite before tossing the empty bowl and spoon onto the table behind him. "Where's Otok?"

"He's coming," Suki told him as she hung up her heavy parka. "He insisted on walking on his own."

Sokka smiled at the pout on his wife's face. At fourteen months old, Otok was already fiercely independent and Suki was starting to miss the infant that she could pick up and carry with her everywhere without fuss. Having Roku around helped, but the Fire Nation Prince was not the squealing, laughing, go-lucky ball of pure chaotic energy Otok was. As if thinking about his son made him appear, Otok blew through the doorway, walk-running on his toes, arms waving in the air as if he could take flight by simply moving fast enough while flapping his arms. Before Sokka could stop him, Otok slammed into the post Roku was secured to, and wrapped his arms around it.

"Be-be," Otok demanded as he repeatedly pushed himself up on his toes with his arms stretched out over his head. The young child's mitten covered hands could just brush the bottom edge of Roku's papoose board, but that didn't stop Otok from trying.

"Be-be, be-be, be-be," he repeated over and over again, ignoring his mother as she started to remove Otok's heavy outer coverings.

Once his son was completely unwrapped, Sokka snatched Otok from the floor and spun him around in a circle high in the air. The resulting squeal was high and piercing, and left Sokka's ears ringing, but at least it got Otok to stop calling for Ruko.

"And what were you up to young man?" Sokka questioned. Otok babbled back, his smoky grey eyes alight with pleasure and his pale cheeks stained pink from the cold outside. Only every fifth word out of the child's mouth was intelligible, but Sokka had been listening to it long enough to know what his son was trying to say.

"Penguin sledding again?" Sokka asked surprised.

"Yes," Suki replied with a tried sigh. "The only reason he came in was to see Roku."

"Be-be," Otok said happily at the mention of his playmate's name. Not that Otok could really play with the little prince, but he liked to talk to the infant and stare at him for seemingly hours on end. Now with his attention back on track, Otok kicked and wiggled until Sokka was forced to put him down or drop him.

"Well, Roku's done eating so I guess it's alright," Sokka relented as he unhooked the cradleboard from its post. Otok squealed with delight, his chubby hands making faster and faster grabbing motions, as Roku was untied. Sokka still didn't unwrap the blanket, but he did get down on the floor cross-legged with the infant in his lap so that Otok could have easier access. Once settled, the chieftain's son leaned in close, pressing his nose and forehead to the Fire Prince's nose and forehead making Roku's golden eyes cross in the attempt to watch what Otok was doing.

"Be-be," the little boy sighed, finally content.

"It's differently time for another one," Sokka commented slyly, giving his smiling wife a meaningful look.

Suki slid in behind her husband, her arms creepy around his chest without disturbing either of the children in front of Sokka before whispering low and soft in his ear.

"I'll be sure to get Aang right on that."

Sokka scowled at his wife as she slipped away into the next room laughing at the old joke. Thankfully it didn't bother him any more how much Otok looked like the Avatar and how little he resembled his father. Personally, Sokka didn't think his son looked anything like Aang. Otok looked Earth Kingdom with his light skin and grey eyes, which of course came from Suki's side. But Sokka had to admit that when Otok was a newborn and completely bald with the Avatar holding him it was uncanny how closely the two resembled each other. If anything it had been Aang that had been the most upset at the inferred fathering.

"I wouldn't touch Suki for anything!" the Avatar had sputtered out in protest of the comment, arms flailing, only to catch the Kyoshi warrior's sour look.

"Not that there's anything wrong with Suki," the bald young man had tried to sooth. "I mean even Sokka will have her." At that point it had been the Water Tribe male that had given him a frown.

"What I mean is that I'm a monk. Monks don't do that kind of thing," Aang had said with a sheepish grin his right hand tucked behind his head. That had finally settled everyone's ruffled feathers. That is until he had opened his mouth again.

"Yeah, if I was going to do it with anyone, it would be with Katara," the monk had said unthinkingly, prompting the brother of said master waterbenter to wrap his hands around the Avatar's neck. Sokka wasn't sure if he would ever see Aang that shade of magenta again.

Sokka never found out what had happened between his sister and Aang. He had been certain that there was a marriage proposal in their future. He had even prepared his brotherly speech for the day Aang asked for Katara's hand, but it never came. One day his sister came home alone after spending two years traveling with Aang. When asked about the Avatar she just smiled warmly and redirected the conversation.

Prince Roku gave a frustrated cry making Sokka bring his attention to the children in front of him.

"All right Otok, I think Roku's had enough," Sokka told his son as he lifted the prince out of reach.

Otok gave a pout but contented himself with 'talking' to Roku when Sokka placed him back into the papoose in the prince's customary place next to the fire. The rest of the day continued pretty much as it did every day. Suki kept an eye on the children and her husband giving comfort and advise to whomever needed it most at any given moment. Sokka busied himself with Tribe affairs, periodically leaving to handle things that needed his direct attention. When it was time for the evening meal, Sokka put on his heavy outer gear to go retrieve Katara from her seaside vigil but was startled to find her silently standing in the doorway.

"Oh, good you're here," Sokka said as he started to remove the coat he had just donned. "I was…"

Whatever he was about to say died in his throat when Katara looked his way. Through the fringe of fur trimming her hood and surrounding her face, Sokka could see eyes that did not belong to his sister. As cold, hard and black as the metal of his meteorite sword, they seemed to reject the warm firelight making her face appear to be in shadows.

"Suki!" Sokka called out, hoping that his wife in the other room would understand the warning in his voice and keep herself and Otok safely there. The Southern Water Tribe Chief was painfully aware that Katara stood between him and his weapons, but almost immediately the thought of arming himself against his sister was banished from his mind.

"Katara?" Sokka asked gently his hands opened palm up and his parka hanging half-on half-off from one arm. His response was a slight tilt of Katara's head before he was painfully thrown against a wall. The impact was bad enough, but the sensation of millions of tiny hooks holding him against gravity to the wall was even worse. Not because it was particularly painful but because Sokka had felt this before at the ends of a puppetmaster's strings.

Bloodbending, his sister was using bloodbending against him. No not his sister, Sokka decided, but something controlling his sister.

"Katara!" Sokka yelled trying to hopefully call his sister forth from inside, but he was completely ignored in favor of the only other person in the room.

"No," he whispered with sickening realization when Katara unhooked Roku from his place by the fire and turned to leave.

"Stop, what do you think you're doing?!" Sokka struggled against the force holding him, but just like with Hama, it was useless. Even after his sister left, Sokka continued to be held against the wall.

"Damn Firebenders and their cursed existence!" he screamed, more convinced than ever that the universe was out to get the royal family.

He understood the whole 'world being out of balance' thing and it being the firebenders' fault, but Roku was an infant, he hadn't done anything to anyone. And besides that, hadn't Iroh and Zuko proven that they were just as dedicated to fixing what was broken as the Avatar? Hadn't they suffered enough? What would hurting Roku do other than cause more harm to this so-called cosmic balance, and why was his sister constantly drawn into these things?

Suddenly Sokka was released and he hit the floor. He stopped just long enough to put his parka completely on and grab his sword before rushing out the door. Just outside the four crumbled forms of the Fire Nation guards were tossed about like broken dolls, but the steam from their breath told him that they were a least still alive.

The snow around the village was too compacted to be of any use for footprints, and the constant twilight of the approaching winter made it too dark to see far, but when the sky towards the ocean danced with lightening, Sokka knew exactly were to go. It never rained in the South Pole, even in the summer, all their water came from melted snow, and so lightening was something that he had only become familiar with once he had left his home to help the Avatar.

He yelled for his warriors but did not wait for them to emerge. A wall around the village had been constructed years ago during one of Toph's infrequent visits, but they were useless with the main gate hanging wide open. Sokka didn't pause as he ran through them, and the sight of Roku's discarded hand-me-down cradleboard only made Sokka move faster.

Up ahead, and below the lightening, was what looked to be some kind of fog, but when Sokka reached it he found himself walking against a monsoon. The air was almost tropically warm and the rain felt like needles driving into the exposed skin of his face in the twisting gale. The snow beneath his feet was melting and became too slick to make much headway, but he forced himself forward, though he had no idea where he was going. Then suddenly it all stopped.

Sokka hit the ground with an 'umph' when the wind he was pushing against disappeared. The humid air was quickly turning to a light snow as the arctic chill moved in, soon after Sokka's parka began to crust with ice from the rain that had coated it. Still slightly dazed from his fall, Sokka forced himself to his feet and continued, his only source of direction a faint blue glow ahead of him. When he was close enough, the glow resolved into the form of the Moon Spirit crouched over a body.

"Yue?"

The Moon Spirit turned, revealing that behind her voluminous gown lay Katara, her clothes almost completely torn away to show her traditional bindings underneath, on her chest partially covered by her unbound and frozen hair was Roku in only his nappy, his fur wrappings nowhere to be seen. Sokka scrambled frantically over the sheets of ice, realizing that somewhere in the storm he had lost his sword, but uncaring, both his sister and the Fire Prince would freeze to death if he didn't get to them in time. But his path was blocked.

"Sokka, it's all right," Yue told him, her voice sounding like a chorus at the bottom of a well. Sokka was about to bark back at her that it certainly was _not_ all right, when he noticed a slash of bleeding crimson across the Spirit's cheek.

"What…" Sokka didn't get to ask his question as Yue placed her fingers over his lips to silence him.

"It will be all right Sokka. Sleep," she told him, her eyes just as loving and soft as they had been all those years ago.

Sokka tried to fight the lethargic feeling seeping into him, but his vision was failing and his limbs wouldn't respond to him.

"It's alright Sokka, it's alright," he heard her repeat again and again, getting more distant and softer with every cycle.

"…Sokka… alright… Sokka can you hear me," his wife's voice asked as his eyes opened.

"Whaaa…" Sokka responded intelligently as he blinked slowly, his head felt heavy as he raised it from the table.

"Are you alright Sokka?" Suki asked, her concern colored with amusement as she peeled away the parchment stuck to his cheek with drool. Sokka wiped at his face with his sleeve, his eyes still refusing to focus entirely.

"Talk slower Suki and use smaller words," Katara commented dryly, and Sokka glared in his sister's general direction when his wife giggled.

"What time is it?" he asked, rubbing the heals of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to clear them. His fuzzy brain didn't want to let go of his crazy dream. A monsoon in the arctic! Who ever heard of such a thing?

"Dinner time," answered Suki as she left to stir a pot of stew over the cooking fire. When Sokka's eyes finally cleared he saw his sister on the other side of the fire, Roku cradled on her shoulder. A sense of wrongness flowed over him for a moment watching to two of them. The prince gave a deep, shuddering sigh and buried his face into his guardian's neck.

"Is he still fussy?" Sokka found himself asking even though he knew that Roku had been perfectly fine all day.

"Yeah, I just got him to settle down," Katara responded tiredly, a faint smile curving her lips. "I think he's teething."

"It's about time," Suki said from the fire. "Should I call everyone in?"

Sokka nodded while yawning, his neck and shoulders popping when he stretched. Roku's Honor Guard filed in one at a time, each one quietly taking a spot around the fire mindful of their prince sleeping on Katara's shoulder. As everyone was being served his or her stew, something at the back of Sokka's mind kept scratching to be recognized. He knew it was important, but for the life of him he couldn't seem to recall what it was.

"Did you ever get a response from that new Earth Kingdom merchant?" Katara asked, having to sway and hum softly to Roku to quite him after she spoke. In a rush Sokka remembered what he had been working on this morning.

"Twenty pelts, Katara. Can you believe it? Twenty!"

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I respond best to constructive critique and cookies, not flames.


	6. Author's Note

I just wanted to thank all my reviewers, especially my multi reviewers; pfnelly, peanut26, 1x1pEnyUIn89, lw, badculture and Wren Sharpbeak.

Just as a FYI, I tend to write chapters out of order based on the scenes that pop into my head at any given time, then I try and make it fit the plot I've worked out in my head. It was this process that lead to the Sokka chapter. It just came rolling out fully formed and I adore Sokka too much to leave him out, it was also helpful with some foreshadowing, but I'm not going to talk anymore about that. Plus I like having moments of mundane in a world that has flying bison in it, and believe you me trying to get a picky baby to eat is very mundane. And I needed to introduce the Roku/Otok dynamic.

Don't worry, Zuko and Katara will be making a stronger appearance here shortly. It may not be the next chapter, but I can already see how future chapters are shaping up and it will be heavy with the two of them. Like possibly changing the rating to 'M' kind of heavy, but that all depends on how the plot rolls out. Right now I have a Toph chapter and an Aang chapter that may never see the light of day as they are not currently working with the plot.

But for those that just can't wait for Zuko/Katara 'action', here's a small excerpt from a future chapter.

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Zuko had felt time stand still before and some distant part of his mind marveled at how often it seemed to happen around this woman. The first time he saw Katara's frightened and defiant face in the South Pole the first stirring of shame had surfaced fixing him to his spot before he had forcibly grabbed her grandmother to brake himself of it. The way her face had lit up with hope, if only for a spark of a moment, when he had promised to save her from the pirates had shocked him into staring into her eyes hoping that he would see more. And then in Ba Sing Se...

The Fire Lord pushed those dangerous, traitorous thoughts aside and choose to focus on his current fixation.

Katara walked towards her prey confidently the metal weights on what remained of her lower clothing sounded like wind chimes with each step. Her arms were crossed in front of her bare stomach and Zuko couldn't seem to stop his eyes from tracing the long curved swath of naked dark skin from the bindings at her breast all the way down to where the soles of her feet disappeared into the grass. Only two things marred the perfection; the twisted material at the flare of her hip that served to hold up the front and back flap of Katara's coverings and a scar across her mid thigh.

It was plain to the firebender's eyes that it had been a burn, but where the waxy skin over his left eye had turned a brilliant red on his pale face, Katara's was bone white on her deep tan skin. As with all burn scars the tissue was stiff and ungiving as she moved and it pulled at strange angles on the rest of her supple skin. It wasn't a large mark, only maybe the width and breath of his palm but it was impossible to miss.

His first rational thought beyond the realization that she was in his palace courtyard almost completely unclothed with dozens of servants and other sundry palace officials staring in awe and surprise was how she could have received such a mark. Katara's healing abilities made scarring, even from burns, an unusual occurrence. His own abdomen was blemish free despite the flaming arrow he had taken while guarding Toph's back when they had escaped the Western Air Temple and the thugs Azula had sent to harass them. After a handful of healing sessions nothing but the memory of how his skin had tingled under her hands had remained.


End file.
